4/22/2012 This Way Out

"NewsWrap": More than a dozen "suspected homosexuals" are arrested for "indecent practices" in the west African nation of Gambia, while two men – one from Britain and the other from the Seychelles – are sentenced in Dubai to three years in jail for having consensual but drunken gay sex in public; police in Hungary's capital of Budapest refuse to issue permits for a planned LGBT Pride march claiming that it would be impossible to redirect traffic around the chosen route, while bills are introduced in Hungary's parliament echoing similar legislation recently introduced in Russia's lower house of parliament making it a criminal offense to "promote" LGBT rights, and Russia's delegation to the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in Washington rejects language in a post-event document that included support for the humanity of sexual minorities; a series of studies of college students in the U.S., U.K. and Germany suggest that the most outspoken homophobes are often themselves repressed homosexuals, while leading U.S. psychiatrist Dr. Robert Spitzer repudiates controversial research he published in 2001 that seemed to support so-called "change therapy", and 2 groups in the U.K. who believe gay people can be turned straight are blocked by London's mayor from promoting their "ex-gay" programs in adverts on the sides of city buses; despite mounting pressure from LGBT equality proponents, the White House tells reporters that President Obama will not be issuing an executive order "at this time" to require federal contractors to have LGBT anti-discrimination policies; Christine Forster, the 47-year-old sister of Australian Opposition leader Tony Abbott, comes out as lesbian, but Abbott maintains his opposition to marriage equality, while openly gay Australian Greens chair and Senator Bob Brown unexpectedly announces his retirement after leading the progressive political party for the past 16 years from what the Australian Broadcasting Corporation called the "radical fringe to the center of power" (written by GREG GORDON with thanks to REX WOCKNER, produced this week by VASH BODDIE & STEVE PRIDE, and reported by SARAH SWEENEY and ABBY DEES)

Nestled in the steep foothills between downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood, a pivotal front in the LGBT revolution was born in 1950. The steps that lead from SILVER LAKE Boulevard up to the house where pioneer Radical Faerie HARRY HAY hosted the first meetings of the Mattachine Society has now been christened a historic site of the city. Dignitaries, politicians, neighborhood activists, and community leaders spoke at the April 7th dedication ceremony. "This Way Out’s" VASH BODDIE was there (includes remarks by longtime friend, Radical Faerie, and prolific writer MARK THOMPSON; the REV. MALCOLM BOYD representing the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles; California ASSEMBLYMAN MIKE GOTTO; local gay historical preservationist WES JOE; Silver Lake Neighborhood Council member ELIZABETH BOUGART; Hay neighbors DAVID BYRD & JOLENO BECERRA; and L.A. CITY COUNCILMAN ERIC GARCETTI